last updated 27th October 05
by 4ecotips.com

Research reveals £72bn likely to be wasted

UK local authorities have been warned that urgent action is needed to combat climate change, as research reveals energy indulgence in UK homes is set to waste a staggering £72 billion and 750 million tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2020.

The stark alert comes as the Energy Saving Trust (EST) launched a £5m national awareness campaign, urging consumers to "Save your 20%", in a bid to help halt a growing epidemic of carbon wastage in our homes.

And the Energy and Waste in an Age of Excess research coincides with findings that reveal seven in ten householders believe local authorities must take responsibility for combating climate change.

This week the EST has urged all UK local authorities to manage their own "green housekeeping" with three simple steps:

• Develop a housing energy strategy
  a best practice energy strategy should take into account policy structure, legislation, benefits of energy efficiency and investment and funding options;
• Build a housing energy management matrix
  a practical tool to help assess the current energy efficiency levels of housing stock, set targets and monitor progress;
• Offer energy advice to staff and tenants
  establish best practice energy advice programmes and look at the development and implementation of best practice energy training programmes.

Philip Sellwood, the EST's chief executive, says: "It's crucial that we take action now to make the UK's homes more energy efficient and with social housing constituting one quarter of the country's total housing stock, local authorities have a vital role to play in helping cut our carbon dioxide emissions.

"With energy used in homes in the UK accounting for over 150 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year, reducing these emissions from the nation's three million local authority homes must be a priority for any local authority - developing and implementing a sustainable energy strategy can go a long way to helping them achieve this."

The EST has a number of tools available for local authorities to improve energy efficiency in their housing stock, including:

• Energy efficiency: the guide
  a single, comprehensive source of information for housing management organisations across the UK. If you're a housing professional, this free online guide could help you save energy, time and money.
• The Homes Energy Efficiency Database (HEED)
  a database that builds a map of the energy efficiency potential and progress in your area.
• Practical help enquiry service
  any question a local authority has relating to sustainable energy will be answered within three days. Up to two hours of free research is available per enquiry with no limit to the number of enquiries that can be made.